pfarber
Line Up and Wait
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pfarber
That's a brake fire, and while the tire did explode, its not the same as having the split rim separate. I think putting water on the hot wheel (magnesium?) may have made things worse.As an airport firefighter, exploding aircraft tires are one of the many hazards we are specifically trained for, or at least trained to avoid.
If you have never seen this video before, it shows the hazards very well. The background, this is a certification test for the Airbus A340 when it was new. Manufacturers are required to do this torture test as part of the certification of air carrier aircraft. It is meant to represent the worst case scenario of an aborted takeoff. The aircraft is outfitted with worn out brakes (and tires too if I recall), loaded to maximum takeoff weight, then accelerated to V1, or takeoff abort speed. They must then bring the aircraft to a stop using only the brakes, no reversers. After that the aircraft must taxi a certain distance under its own power and stop again. To pass the test, the aircraft must not catch fire or be damaged, and not need firefighting measures for so many minutes. The fusible plugs may blow and tires deflate, but that is about it.
This is an example of a fail, and why this is usually the last test performed during the certification testing. We always show this to our firefighters in training to show them exactly what they may face.
Brakes and tires suck. Hydraulic fluid is flammable, tires with worn tread due to wear, split rim bolt and wheels damaged due to landings... its amazing that they don't explode more often.
We have a specific inspection checks for missing tie bolts, cracked/damage wheel spokes, hydraulic leaks etc. I know of two AMTs at my shop that were written up for signing off a wheel on a line check that pilots wrote up for brakes on thier pre-flight.
Due to this incident the stores folks have been told to report any tire/AMT that is returned with a schrader valve core still in the stem. The job card says to deflate the tire, but not to remove the valve core... I might have to submit a Safety TOCR for that.